The ad hoc Committee on Forced Labor which was established jointly by the United Nations and the International Labor Organization, pursuant to an Economic and Social Council decision of March 1951,1 held its first session in Geneva from October 8 to 27, 1951.3 The committee, composed of Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar (India, chairman), Paal Berg (Norway) and F. F. Palavicini (Mexico), issued an invitation to all non-governmental organizations to supply it with documentary material and information. The committee reported that it would have to investigate “all the laws and regulations of the various states which might illustrate the different systems of forced labour employed in those States”, adding that it might also have to investigate existing administrative practices which enable forced labor to be put into effect. At its next session, scheduled to be held at New York from May 26 to July 3, 1952, the committee was to examine the replies of governments to its questionnaire, as well as hear and question the representatives of interested non-governmental organizations.
